LaGuardia Community College honored three original members of the school’s Foundation for their six years of service and funded more than $107,000 in scholarships at a reception in their honor recently.
Peter DiCapua, Peter Koo and Robert Morgan, Esq. received the Innovative Leadership Award at the event, on Tuesday, June 2 in the the United Nations’ Delegates Dining Room.
The reception, sponsored by the Permanent Mission of the Dominican Republic to the United Nations, drew 234 attendees, including faculty, staff and students.
The award was first presented to Joseph Shenker, founding president of the college, in 2008, and is given annually to people who have contributed significantly to higher education
“We are honoring three extraordinary Foundation leaders,” said college President Dr. Gail Mellow. “Peter DiCapua, the outgoing chairperson, who has been a rock through this process; Peter Koo, who has been an emblem and inspiration to our students; and Robert Morgan, who has been committed to ensuring that financial obstacles did not stand in the way of our students,” she said.
DiCapua, the Foundation’s outgoing chair and new Chairman Emeritus, is chief operating officer of Atco Properties and Management, Inc. He called LaGuardia “The jewel of community colleges, better known as the gateway for immigrants into the U.S. for education.”
He called the 720 scholarships awarded during his term the most meaningful part of his chairmanship, saying they “allowed [students] to continue and complete their education, which will change their lives without question,”
Koo, a former Foundation treasurer, is the founder of Flushing store-chain Starside Drugs. He gave the largest gift that the Foundation has yet received.
“It is reassuring to know that the College will continue to provide a first-rate education to immigrants and other students who are striving to achieve the American Dream,” he said.
Morgan is a partner at the Manhattan law firm of Ropes & Gray. He endowed the foundation’s first named scholarship fund, the Bert Morgan & Wayne Logsdon Memorial Scholarship, named after his father and father-in-law.
He praised the faculty and staff, as well as the “remarkable student body that is unlike any other.” The school, located in Long Island City, has students from 160 countries.
“With the support of the Foundation, students like me can keep on dreaming and realizing that getting an education is not an impossible reality,” said Edgar Romero, an honor student and one of three recent Foundation scholarship recipients to speak at the reception.
Among the attendees were contributors and sponsors who each donated from $250 to $1,000 or more, according to E. Ramone Segree, LaGuardia’s Vice President for Institutional Advancement and Executive Director of the Foundation.
The money raised will eventually be given directly to students in scholarships, Segree said.
